Rheostat.



W. F. VALCKE, J'm

RHEOSTATL AXPLICATION HLED OCT. 30. 1916.

Patented 1311.1;1918;

WILLIAM?. vALoxE, JR., or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.,

RHEOSTAT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 1, 1918.

Application filed October 30, 1916. Serial No. 128,582.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. VALORE, Jr., a. citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rheostats; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to electric light sockets, and has particular reference to a. socket for regulating the amount of current which is supplied to a lamp or other apparatus connected' to the socket.

The object of the invention is to combine in a lamp socket adapted to be used in ordinary house wirings, a rheost-atic element by whose adjustment the amount of current which leaves the socket may be regulated to vary the degree of light in a lamp contained in the socket, or else to adjust the current for operating toys, and household appliances, such as dat irons, heating bodies, percolators, fans or washing machines.

In carrying out the invention, it is also an object to construct a socket of the character above defined whose construction is not complicated or expensive in manufacture, the ordinary socket structure being modified mereiy to the extent of providing new porcelains of such shape that they will contain the rheostatic element and the switch arm.

With the above objects in view and such other objects as may hereinafter appear, my invention will now be fully set forth and described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the lamp socket partly broken away in order to disclose the interior structure, I'`i g. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. l,

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation,

Eig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1,

I and liig. 5 is a diagrammatic View showing the. wiring of the socket.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 denotes the usual socket casing having the lead-in collar 2 for receiving the twowire cable 3. Contained within the casing l is an upper porcelain 4 secured tothe casing by means of screws 5 and a lower porcelain rwhich is secured to the porcelain 4 in resistance wire, and being of sufficient length to overlie the greater part of the circumference of the annular shoulder l0, this being necessary in order to give the necessary wide range of current regulation necessary in satisfying the current requirements of vvarious electrical appliances. Rising centrally from the raised portion of the porcelain 6 is a spindle 12 upon which is pivotally mounted the swinging arm 13,-the latter being constructed of any suitable conductive metal, and extending through a slot 14 formed in the side of the casing l, so as to be accessible for manual manipulation. lExtending downwardly from the swinging' arm 13 into contact with the coil 11 is a brush 15 which completes, the circuit through the Swingin arm 13 when the coil in the device is wire The slot 14 is of sufficient extent to permitI the arml to swing substantially over the entire length of the coil 11, so-that the widest range of current regulation may be had.

After vthe cable 3 has been split into its component wires within the dome of the casing l, one of the wires 16 is extended through the groove 17 in the side of the porcelain 4, and is secured to a contact plate 18 which is suitably brazed or otherwise Se?I cured to the threaded shell 8, thus one wire is directly connected to the socket proper. The other wire 19 is carried through a groove 2O dian'ietrically opposite the groove 17, and passing below the plate is connected by means of the screw 21 to the swinging arm 13. One of the ends of the coil ll is connected by means of a wire 22, or other connecting clement with the spring contact 9. Then when a lamp or connecting plug is inserted into the shell 8 so as to close the circuit across the contacts 18 and f) the current which is fed thereto may be regulated within a wide range by operating the switch arm 13 over the coil l1, the current passing los to the appliance depending npon 'the position of the arm 13 in its Contact with the coil 11.

lVhat I claim as my invention is 1. In a lamp socket7 the combination of a porcelain having an annular shoulder formed at.its upper end, a resistance coil Wound around said shoulder, a swinging arm centrally mounted upon the porcelain and having a brush wiping on said coil, plug contacts associated with the socket, one of said contacts being Connected to one end of said coil, and means for connecting electric Wires to the opposite Contact and to said swinging arm.

2. In a lamp socket, the combination of Va porcelain having an annular shoulder mismos formed at its upper end, a resistance coil seat-ed on said shoulder and havmg its turns exposed in a substantially semi-circular con-Al tact strip, a swinging arm mounted on said porcelain and having a brush lnovably bearing on said strip, plug contacts associated With the socket, one of said contacts being connected to oneend of said coil, and means for connecting electric Wires to the opposite Contact and to said arm.

ln testimony whereof, aiX my signature5 in 'the presence of two Witnesses.

WJULLIAM F. VALERIE, JR l/Vitnesses E. MURRAY, JENNm M. VALCm. 

